1. Field of Invention
The present invention is generally related to methods and apparatus to provide a means whereby a wireless telephone can set up a first data connection with a network server and a second voice call connection with a person and accept a command from said person to establish a multiparty call connection including the person, the wireless telephone and a PSAP dispatcher and wherein the multiparty call connection is active for at least a portion of the active data connection. The multiparty connection allowing the person to explain the reason for the call to the PSAP and also to provide the PSAP with the log-on information required to gain access to data transmitted from the wireless telephone to the network server. The log-on information providing a means whereby the PSAP, and any emergency response personnel he chooses to share the log-on information with, can access audio, video and location information transmitted from the wireless telephone; and a user information databases, and a database of 10-digit PSAP telephone numbers linked to areas of PSAP jurisdiction stored on the server. The server and wireless telephone data connection further allowing VoIP communications between emergency responders logged-onto the server and persons in the vicinity of the wireless telephone, and remote control of functions and devices connected to the wireless telephone
2. Description of Prior Art
Both wired and wireless type telephone safety, security and tracking systems stand to benefit from the improvements of the present invention. In addition to a pure cellular phone system (i.e., one with a plurality of cell sites distributed on land), satellite phone call connection is another option for mobile communication as is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connections. Accordingly, the present invention applies equally to cellular and satellite phone call connections as well as wireless and wireline VoIP connections.
Although wireless telephones can be important public safety tools, they also present unique challenges for public safety and emergency response personnel. For example, a wireless telephone is mobile, and therefore is not associated with any one fixed location or address. Thus, a caller using a wireless telephone may be calling from anywhere. The U.S. E9-1-1 and European eCall systems have established one number Universal Emergency Call Numbers such as 911 and 112 that have Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and limited Automatic Location Information (ALI) capabilities. The problem with current E9-1-1 call location technology is that it has very limited usefulness when the real-time location of a fast moving mobile object, such as a vehicle, needs to be tracked. In the U.S. when an emergency call is received by a 911 PSAP the FCC has mandated that the telephone service provider is required to include the location from which the call originates. Phase 1 ALI (Automatic Location Information) is capable of sending a rough location of the call origin location by sending the PSAP the location of the cell tower receiving the call. Phase 2 ALI is capable of more accurate location information by using GPS information from a cellular telephone or triangulation of multiple cellular access stations, however, this ALI information that is automatically sent to the PSAP is currently only a one time location notification at the beginning of the 911 call that shows a rough location from where the call was dialed and that does not automatically update to show where it might have moved to during the call.
If the emergency call taker wishes to update the location of a moving wireless telephone he has to request an ALI update from the service provider. This position update has to be processed by multiple system servers, and sometimes a 3rd party service provider, and then transmitted to the requesting PSAP. This process can take up to half a minute, and sometimes even longer. Sometimes Phase 2 ALI information isn't even supported by the service provider that is putting the call through in the specific location from which the call originates and Phase 1 ALI, which is not accurate enough for reliable moving vehicle tracking, is all that is received by the PSAP. Another shortcoming of the present system is that only the PSAP dispatcher with the proper communications/computer equipment has access to this location information.
A stolen vehicle tracking and recovery call from a wireless cellular or satellite telephone in a vehicle requires that the dispatcher notify a patrol officer and then attempt to vector the responding officer in on the vehicle location. The problem with this is that the location showing on the dispatcher's location monitoring equipment is not real-time and could easily be minutes out of date. A vehicle traveling at high speed in a metropolitan area could easily be miles away from the location provided to the officer responding to the call which would mean that the dispatcher would have to keep updating his location information and redirecting the responding officer until the officer and the stolen vehicle eventually arrived at the same location at the same time. This is a time consuming process and also very resource intensive. A PSAP has a limited number of dispatchers to handle large numbers of calls. They prefer to handle a call as quickly as possible and then move on to the next call. Tying up a PSAP dispatcher to relay location information in a stolen vehicle recover call is not how they prefer to use their resources. It would therefore be desirable to provide a means and method that would allow the dispatcher to hand-off the call to a responding officer as quickly as possible so that he/she could return to handling other emergency calls.
It would also be desirable to provide a method allowing a responding officer to access an Internet network server displaying real-time mapped location information independently of the dispatcher after notification by the dispatcher of a need to do so and reception of the log-on information (i.e., Domain name or IP address and any needed pass-code) required to gain access to the information that is available on the server. The server would preferably be configured to display the location of the wireless telephone both in mapped and also in street name and building number address format. The present invention provides a means and method to accomplish this.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a method and system for a Network Server Emergency Information Accessing Method that helps ameliorate the above-mentioned difficulties while also providing other substantial benefits and improvements to safety, security and tracking systems. Clearly, such a system would be useful and desirable.